Slovakia’s SLZ eyes Armenian chemicals-maker Vanadzor

24.11.2004
 
Yerevan. (Interfax) – The Slovakian company SLZ, part of the Dividend
Group, may clinch a deal for stock in Armenia’s Vanadzor chemicals
complex with its owner Zakneftegazstroi Prometei of Russia in December.

Armenian Trade and Economic Development Minister Karen Chshmaritian
told reporters on Tuesday that SLZ representatives will arrive in
his country December 6 for stock purchase talks. A representative
from the Russian company will also be arriving.

Preliminary agreement has already been reached and a deal could be
signed during this meeting, Chshmaritian said.

It was announced earlier that the Slovakian company is seeking at
least 51% of the chemicals company stock.

The Vanadzor chemicals complex comprises Vanadzor Chemical Plant, a
chemical fiber plant and Vanadzor TES, which in 1999 were appraised at
$1.5 million. The Russian company is has invested around $20 million
in developing the enterprise, which has stood idle since 2002.

–Boundary_(ID_HBhD+saiFzfKskF0Ogph/g)–

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Nov 24 2004

Clerk post up for grabs for first time in 75 years

Ardashes Kassakhian plans run for city clerk position in the first
open race for the job since 1929. Election is in April.

By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press and Leader

GLENDALE CITY HALL — Glendale could have a competitive election in
April to determine the city’s chief election official for the first
time in more than 75 years. Now, that race has its first competitor.

Ardashes Kassakhian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee’s Western Region, announced that he will run for City Clerk,
a position that will be vacated in April when Doris Twedt retires at
the end of her term.

“I’ve always had a passion for public service,” Kassakhian, 28, said.
“It’s a noble calling. If you really want to be an active citizen and
participant, you have to take on challenges and you have to address
them head on.”

Kassakhian should have some competition, although nobody else has
entered the race. Candidates do not have to file any paperwork to
run for City Clerk until January. The job’s salary alone — $105,000
per year, minimum — will likely draw out candidates to make the
race competitive.

The winner of the election will be the Glendale’s first city clerk
to initially take office by election since 1929, when G.E. Chapman
was elected to the post. Ever since, Glendale’s city clerk has been
a hand-me-down position, with clerks taking office as a mid-term
replacement appointed by the City Council instead of by election.

The council appointed John Walters in 1959 when Chapman died, and
Walters served until 1971. When he retired, the council appointed
Frank Usher. The cycle continued, with Merle Hagemeyer (appointed in
1976) followed by Aileen Boyle (appointed in 1989) followed by Twedt
(appointed in 2000). During those 75 years, no appointed city clerk
has lost a reelection bid.

By appointing mid-term replacements, the city has avoided politicizing
the position that oversees the city’s elections and record-keeping.

“There’s a good argument to be made that any political office
overseeing elections should be nonpartisan, and maybe should be
an appointed position rather than beholden to an electorate,” said
Tom Hogen-Esch, a political science professor at California State
University Northridge. “The best reason is that there is no appearance
of political motivation behind whatever decision is under scrutiny.”

As an officer for the Armenian National Committee, Kassakhian is
a community activist who has lobbied the federal government for
recognition of the Armenian genocide and urged Glendale’s Armenian
community to vote.

If elected, he said he would focus on increasing voter turnout and
advancing the technology inside the clerk’s office.

“He’s a very capable individual, and he knows very well what the
job entails and how to handle it,” said Councilman Rafi Manoukian,
who received support from the Armenian National Committee in his
reelection bid.

“Having come from a community activism background, that gives him
better insight into the operations of the city clerk.

“It is incumbent on all individuals who will participate in or be a
candidate for City Clerk to recognize the fact that, although it is
an elected position, it should not be a political thing.”

Cronimet to pay $132 mln for 75% of molybdenum plant stock in Armenia 

24.11.2004  

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Germany’s Cronimet will pay $132 million for
75% of the stock in Armenia’s Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant,
or ZMMK.

Armenia’s Trade and Economic Development Minister Karen Chshmaritian
told reporters on Tuesday that agreement on this was reached during a
working visit to Germany by the country’s President Robert Kocharian
last week.

Half of the remaining ZMMK stock (12.5%) will be transferred to
Armenian Molybdenum Production (AMP), set up last year in Yerevan to
process molybdenum; the other 12.5% goes to management company Zangezur
Mining, created recently by the ZMMK workforce and administration.

Cronimet has said it is ready to credit AMP and Zangezur Mining to
enable them to acquire the ZMMK stock, Chshmaritian said..

Armenian and German specialists are now in Germany working on a
draft agreement expected to be coordinated with Deutsche Bank for
the receipt of banking guarantees. Plans call for the document to be
signed before December 5, Chshmaritian said.

How much Cronimet will be investing should become clear after a
feasibility study is done sometime around next June.

Cronimet owns 48% of the stock in Yerevan’s Chistoye Zhelezo (Pure
Iron), which processes molybdenum concentrate produced by ZMMK.

–Boundary_(ID_Rhlf3CA0ALynLEJT0Lx2ew)–

Winning the War Against Antipersonnel Mines: Biggest Challenges Still Ahead

24 Nov 2004 07:48:00 GMT

Source: NGO latest
ICBL

Landmine Monitor Report 2004
Cover Photo: Fred Clarke, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) – USA
Website:
New Report Looks at 5-Year Trends

Since the international treaty prohibiting antipersonnel landmines
took effect five years ago, use of the weapon around the world has
fallen dramatically, global funding for mine action programs has
increased more than 80 percent, more than 1,100 square kilometers
of land has been cleared, and the number of new mine victims each
year has decreased markedly, according to a 1,300-page report by the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) released today.

â~@~The international norm established by the Mine Ban Treaty is
rapidly taking firm hold around the world, especially in the heavily
mine-contaminated countries where it matters the most,â~@~] said ICBL
Ambassador Jody Williams, who shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with
the ICBL. â~@~Clearly we are succeeding in our struggle to eradicate
this weapon. But even bigger challenges remain, to convince hold-out
governments to come on board, to ensure effective implementation of
and compliance with the treaty, to get mines out of the ground within
the ten-year deadline, and to provide adequate assistance to landmine
victims,â~@~] said Ms. Williams.

There are 143 States Parties to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which entered
into force with unprecedented speed on 1 March 1999. An additional nine
countries have signed but not yet ratified the treaty that prohibits
the use, production, trade and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines,
and requires clearance of mined areas within ten years. Since the last
Landmine Monitor report, nine countries joined the treaty including
Burundi and Sudan, which are both significantly mine-affected,
and Belarus, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey, which are
also mine-affected and combined have over ten million stockpiled
antipersonnel mines to destroy.

The ICBLâ~@~Ys Landmine Monitor Report 2004 cites compelling evidence
of use of antipersonnel mines by four governments since May 2003:
Georgia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, and Russia. In contrast, the
first Landmine Monitor Report 1999 identified 15 governments using
antipersonnel mines in the 1998/1999 reporting period.

â~@~One of the greatest success stories of the Mine Ban Treaty is
that sixty-five States Parties have completed the destruction of their
stockpiles, collectively destroying more than 37 million antipersonnel
mines, including four million mines in the last year,â~@~] said Stephen
Goose of Human Rights Watch, the Chief Editor of the Landmine Monitor
initiative. Every State Party so far has met its treaty-mandated
four-year deadline for stockpile destruction, except for Guinea and
Turkmenistan, both of which have subsequently completed stockpile
destruction.

â~@~Compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty by States Parties has
been very impressive, but not absolute or uniform,â~@~] said
Mr. Goose. Since the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force, the ICBL
has consistently raised questions about how States Parties interpret
and implement certain aspects of Articles 1, 2, and 3. In particular,
the ICBL has expressed concerns regarding the issues of joint military
operations with non-States Parties, the prohibition on assisting banned
acts, foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines, mines
with sensitive fuzes and antihandling devices, and the permissible
number of antipersonnel mines retained for training and development
purposes. The ICBL has pointed out that some States Parties have
diverged from the predominant legal interpretation and predominant
State practice on these matters.

Forty-two countries remain outside of the Mine Ban Treaty, including
China, Russia, and the United States, most of the Middle East, most
of the former Soviet republics, and many Asian states. In February
2004, the United States abandoned its long-held goal of eventually
eliminating all antipersonnel mines and joining the treaty.

Still, the power of the mine ban movement is reflected in the fact
that a de facto global ban on the trade of antipersonnel mines has
been in effect since the mid-1990s, with only a very low level of
illicit trafficking and unacknowledged trade taking place. Moreover,
of the more than 50 countries known to have produced antipersonnel
mines, all but 15 have formally renounced production.

>>From 1999 to 2003, more than 1,100 square kilometers of land were
cleared, resulting in the destruction of more than four million
antipersonnel mines, nearly one million antivehicle mines, and many
more millions of pieces of unexploded ordnance. â~@~There is now
consistent and reliable evidence to show that mine action is making
a measurable difference in the lives of millions of people living
in mine-affected countries,â~@~] said Ms. Sara Sekkenes of Norwegian
People’s Aid, co-chair of the ICBL Mine Action Working Group, while
cautioning that global mine action numbers should not be regarded as
precise. â~@~Clearly tremendous progress has been made in the field of
humanitarian mine action using the comprehensive framework provided
by the Mine Ban Treaty,â~@~] she added. The past five years have
witnessed the initiation and expansion of many mine action programs,
and ever-greater amounts of land being returned to communities for
productive use.

Some form of mine clearance was reported in 2003 and 2004 in a total
of 65 countries, including the first humanitarian mine clearance
operations in Armenia, Chile, Senegal, and Tajikistan. In 2003 alone,
a combined total of more than 149 million square meters (149 square
kilometers) of land was cleared, resulting in the destruction of at
least 174,167 antipersonnel mines, 9,330 antivehicle mines, and 2.6
million items of unexploded ordnance (UXO).

According to Landmine Monitor Report 2004, 83 countries are
mine-affected, including 52 States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. The
Mine Ban Treaty requires States Parties to clear all mined areas
within ten years of joining the treaty. States Parties that have
declared completion of mine clearance since 1999 include Bulgaria
(October 1999), Moldova (August 2000), Costa Rica (December 2002),
Czech Republic (April 2003), Djibouti (January 2004), and, most
recently, Honduras (June 2004).

However, in 2003 and 2004, no mine clearance or mine risk education
activities were recorded in 13 States Parties. â~@~Without sufficient
and sustained resources, we fear that many States Parties will not meet
their treaty obligation to remove emplaced mines within ten years,â~@~]
said Mr. Stan Brabant of Handicap International and Landmine Monitor
Research Coordinator for mine risk education. â~@~This is a critical
time, and our goal of a mine-free world is within reach,â~@~]
he added.

Landmine Monitor has identified about US$2.07 billion in donor
mine action contributions from 1992-2003. Of that 12-year total,
65 percent ($1.35 billion) was provided in the past five years
(1999-2003), since the entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty. For
2003, Landmine Monitor has identified $339 million in mine action
funding by more than 24 donors. This is an increase of $25 million, or
8 percent, from 2002, and an increase of $102 million, or 43 percent,
from 2001. Major increases were registered in 2003 for the European
Commission and the United States, as well as Canada and Sweden.

In 2003, Afghanistan ($75 million) and Iraq ($55 million) received
38 percent of global mine action funding. Meanwhile, an unusually
large number of mine- affected countries experienced a decline in
donor contributions to mine action in 2003. Mine action funding fell
most severely in 2003 for Vietnam and Cambodia, but decreases were
also experienced in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Somaliland,
Laos, and Ethiopia. In 2003, several of the major donors provided
significantly less mine action funding, including Japan, Austria,
Italy, Australia, France, and the Netherlands.

The number of reported new mine casualties declined in the majority of
mine- affected countries in 2003, and dropped significantly in some
heavily mined countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Cambodia, Lebanon, and Sri Lanka. Landmine Monitor identified 8,065 new
casualties caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in 2003,
compared to 8,333 in 2002.However, many casualties go unreported and
Landmine Monitor estimates there are now between 15,000 and 20,000
new casualties annually around the world¡Xfar fewer than the 26,000
per year estimated in the 1990s.

â~@~The declining landmine casualty rate is heartening, but there
are still an appalling number of people, especially children, killed
and maimed by landmines every year in virtually every region of the
world,â~@~] said Ms. Sheree Bailey of Handicap International, Landmine
Monitorâ~@~Ys Victim Assistance Research Coordinator. â~@~The stark
reality is that there is an ever-growing number of mine survivors
in the world and in the vast majority of mine-affected countries,
neither the national governments nor international donors are doing
nearly enough to provide for their needs,â~@~] she added.

According to Landmine Monitor, in 2003, new landmine and UXO casualties
were recorded in 65 countries. A total of 86 percent of reported new
casualties were identified as civilians and 23 percent were children.

The major progress in the past five years in preventing antipersonnel
mines from being laid and in clearing existing minefields has not
been matched in the area of victim assistance. Landmine Monitor
reports that while global mine action funding has increased greatly
since 1999, identifiable resources for mine victim assistance have
actually declined (US$29.8 million in 1999 compared to US$28.2 million
in 2003). Resources for victim assistance as a percentage of total
mine action funding have decreased significantly and steadily from
14.9 percent in 1999 to 8.3 percent in 2003.

â~@~In many mine-affected countries the assistance available to
rehabilitate and reintegrate landmine survivors back into society
remains desperately inadequate,â~@~] said Ms. Bailey. â~@~If
governments are serious in their commitment to assist survivors,
funding for healthcare and the disability sector must be significantly
increased and sustained over the long-term,â~@~] she added.Landmine
Monitor identified only 35 countries receiving resources from other
States for mine victim assistance programs in 2003, with the majority
of resources being provided for physical rehabilitation programs.

Landmine Monitor estimates that there are somewhere between 300,000
and 400,000 mine survivors in at least 121 countries today. From 1999
to September 2004, Landmine Monitor recorded more than 42,500 new
landmine and UXO casualties from incidents in at least 75 countries.

Landmine Monitor Report 2004: Toward a Mine-Free World is the sixth
annual report by the ICBL. It contains information on landmine
use, production, trade, stockpiling, demining, casualties and
victim assistance in every country of the world. This year¡¦s
1,300-page report is a special edition covering the past five years,
in anticipation of the first five-year Review Conference for the Mine
Ban Treaty. On Monday, 29 November, the ICBL will present the report
to diplomats attending the review conference in Kenya, known as the
Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World.

The Landmine Monitor initiative is coordinated by a â~@~Core
Groupâ~@~] of five ICBL organizations. Human Rights Watch is the
lead organization and others include Handicap International, Kenya
Coalition Against Landmines, Mines Action Canada, and Norwegian
People¡¦s Aid. A total of 110 Landmine Monitor researchers in 93
countries systematically collected and analyzed information from a wide
variety of sources for this comprehensive report. This unique civil
society initiative constitutes the first time that non-governmental
organizations have come together in a sustained, coordinated and
systematic way to monitor and report on the implementation of an
international disarmament or humanitarian law treaty.

The full Landmine Monitor report and related documents are available
online in various languages at

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact:

BELGIUM: Ms. Annelies Vanoppen, Handicap International, +32 (2)
286-50-38, Email. annelies.vanoppen-replacewatsign-handicap.be

MOZAMBIQUE: Ms. Inger Sandberg, Norwegian People’s Aid, +47 97 97 75 91

CAMBODIA: Ms. Sheree Bailey, Landmine Monitor Victim Assistance
Research Coordinator, +855 12 693 823

NAIROBI: Ms. Sue Wixley, ICBL, Tel. + 254 (0735) 337-396, Email.
media-replacewatsign-icbl.org

–Boundary_(ID_nUtEVoECO9Dq8VBFHITn3g)–

Azeri foreign minister addresses UN over Karabakh settlement

ANS Radio, Baku
24 Nov 04

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov addressed the 59th
session of the UN General Assembly in New York a few hours ago. He
spoke about the obstacles to the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict created by official Yerevan and specifically about the
Armenian leadership settling Armenian families on the occupied
Azerbaijani territories. It must be remembered that a special
resolution on the situation on the occupied Azerbaijani lands is
expected to be adopted at the 59th session of the UN General Assembly
on 26 November.

Dilsad Aliyarli, a correspondent of the Voice of America TV station,
will give us the latest details from the USA.

[Correspondent by phone] Mammadyarov said that the draft resolution
submitted to the UN was balanced and constructive. He ruled out that
this was an attempt to instruct the UN General Assembly to resolve
the conflict. The point is about the problem itself which delays
the peace process and might lead to humanitarian disaster if the
situation continues to be the case. The minister said that Armenia
should immediately take effective and unconditional measures to stop
the settlement process in Azerbaijan’s occupied lands and the Armenian
government should guarantee clearly and resolutely that it will not
repeat this kind of illegal policy and activity. The Azerbaijani
foreign minister said that he had been using all diplomatic means
to prevent the dangerous development of events in the occupied
lands. At the end of his speech, Mammadyarov stressed that the talks
were continuing and that he regularly contacted the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs.

Azeri minister urges UN to have final say on Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
24 Nov 04

[Presenter] Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov gave an
interview to ANS after his speech at the UN General Assembly. He said
that the UN General Assembly should now have a final say.

[Correspondent over video of the UN session] The minister thinks
that the first step has already been taken. We now have to wait for
another resolution which the UN is going to adopt on the situation
on the occupied Azerbaijani territories. This will take some time.

[Mammadyarov by phone] The UN has a special procedure of adopting
resolutions. This is a process. It will take some time. Therefore,
we think that first we should continue the talks and then we will
express our opinion after reviewing their results.

[Correspondent] Mammadyarov also commented on the statement made by
his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanyan on the UN discussions.

[Passage omitted: reported details of Armenia’s position]

[Mammadyarov] This issue was not comprehensively discussed when I met
the Armenian foreign minister in Berlin. Azerbaijan thinks that we
need to continue the talks within the framework of the Prague meetings
[on the Karabakh settlement]. We intend to continue the Prague talks
as soon as possible.

[Correspondent] Elmar Mammadyarov said that only Armenia and
Azerbaijan participated in the talks in line with the OSCE Minsk
Group’s regulations. The Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of
Nagornyy Karabakh enjoy the status of parties interested in this
process. If we negotiate with the so-called regime, then Armenia will
be regarded not as the opposite side, but as a side interested in the
settlement process. In these circumstances, Armenia must walk out of
the talks, end quote.

Mammadyarov said that he will clarify this position of the Baku
government at his meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs today.

Ayaz Mirzayev, ANS.

Tajik, Russian top brass pledge closer military ties

Khovar news agency, Dushanbe
24 Nov 04

A meeting was held between Defence Minister Col-Gen Sherali
Khayrulloyev and a Russian military delegation at the Tajik Defence
Ministry on 23 November. The delegation led by the commander-in-chief
of the Russian air force, Army General Vladimir Mikhaylov, is visiting
Tajikistan.

The meeting discussed Russian-Tajik military and military-technical
cooperation both between the two countries and within the framework of
the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization includes Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan] and other
regional organizations.

The discussions focused particularly on cooperation within the
framework of the CIS joint air defence system, the involvement of
Russian military aircraft in the joint command and staff exercise
Rubezh-2005, to take place in Tajikistan in April 2005, and other
issues of mutual interest.

During the businesslike and constructive conversation, the sides
confirmed their willingness for fruitful cooperation in the interests
of strengthening regional cooperation in the spirit of strategic
partnership, the head of the Tajik Defence Ministry press centre,
Zarobiddin Sirojov, told the Khovar national news agency.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB QUALIFIED MONDAY EXPLOSION OF NIKOL PASHINYAN’S CAR AS
ACT AGAINST PRESS FREEDOM

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23. ARMINFO. National Press Club qualifies the Monday
explosion of the car of Aykakan Zhamanak chief editor Nikol Pashinyan as a
terrorist act against press freedom in Armenia.

NPC says that if earlier such acts were aimed against journalists’ cameras
now applied is an explosive. The lives of journalists are in danger. NPC demands
that the government punish the organizers of the crime. “It’s time to come to
one’s senses and to restore legality in Armenia otherwise the wheel of
violation may turn in some unpredictable direction.”

To remind, Pashinyan’s car exploded Monday evening and his staff are
suspecting Armenian businessman Gagik Tsarukyan who has recently been a target of
their pens.

Opposition chides Armenian leadership for foreign policy failures

Arminfo
23 Nov 04

Yerevan, 23 November: The current Armenian leadership has brought
the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict to deadlock and
has endangered the possibility of a pro-Armenian solution to this
problem, representatives of the Armenian opposition said at the
Armenian National Assembly today.

The vice-president of the National Unity Party, Aleksan Karapetyan,
said that the draft resolution of the rapporteur of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] on Nagornyy Karabakh, David
Atkinson, which runs counter to the interests of the Armenian side,
is a result of the “good-for-nothing” foreign policy of the country’s
incumbent authorities.

Aleksan Karapetyan, a member of the Armenian delegation at the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly, said that having familiarized himself with the
agenda of the Rose-Roth seminar to be held in Baku on 25-27 November,
it became clear that Armenia is not ready to take part in this
seminar. He said that as a consequence of the short-sighted foreign
policy of the country’s incumbent authorities, Nagornyy Karabakh has
turned out of a member of the negotiating process into its object.

For his part, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party and former
presidential adviser for foreign issues, Aram Sarkisyan, also accused
the country’s leadership of allowing Azerbaijan to include the issue of
“the occupied territories” in the agenda of the UN General Assembly.

He said that the best thing the Armenian side can count on during
the discussion of this issue at the UN General Assembly is the
establishment of a monitoring group to study “the situation on the
occupied territories”.

The MP stated that [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan must report
“foreign policy failures” to the people and parliament. Aram Sarkisyan
said that the opposition will organize a round table at the house of
journalists on 26 November on the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
conflict. During the discussions, the opposition will present a plan
of measures to get out of the current critical situation. At the
same time, he expressed the hope that under the current authorities,
it will be difficult to get the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
conflict out of the deadlock.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, ITALIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSS COOPERATION

Arminfo
23 Nov 04

Yerevan, 23 November: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today
received Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver and the
delegation accompanying her in the visit.

The Armenian president expressed satisfaction with the current level
of Armenian-Italian relations, the presidential press service has
told Arminfo news agency.

The sides discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to bilateral
and international ties, including cooperation of the countries in
international organizations.

The source reports that the sides exchanged views on reforms under
way in the UN bodies, particularly on the expansion of the UN Security
Council.

In turn, Margherita Boniver noted Italy’s interest in the South
Caucasus countries. The Italian deputy minister considered as important
Kocharyan’s upcoming official visit to Italy in January 2005. She said
that this visit would boost cooperation between the two countries. At
the meeting, the sides also discussed the current situation in the
resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.